Workplace health and safety is a primary concern in all industrial operations. Ensuring a safe working environment for personnel can be challenging, especially in situations where workers must access hazardous or difficult to reach sites. In the energy industry, for example, workers often need to gain access to remote locations to perform repairs, maintenance, or related functions. Elevated equipment, such as that associated with electrical power lines, presents a particular challenge in terms of worker accessibility. In many cases, even if personnel were able to access these elevated, remote, or otherwise difficult to reach locations, they would encounter unsafe working conditions that interfere with their operations.
In many industries, workplace health and safety guidelines and regulations have been developed to improve worker safety. When performing operations at elevated, remote, or otherwise dangerous or inaccessible sites, it can be very difficult to comply with safety regulations and protocols. As such, a need exists for improved apparatus and methods allowing personnel to access elevated, dangerous, remote, and/or otherwise inaccessible sites while maintaining levels of safety in compliance with workplace safety guidelines and regulations.
Improved apparatus and methods for supporting personnel at difficult to access locations is highly sought-after in nearly all industry sectors.